Reibella opened her eyes wide and looked directly at the boy. Warm red eyes and black hair. He was someone she knew well.

……Was he real?

Reibella carefully raised her hand toward him. When her fingertips touched his cheek, she felt soft skin. Though it seemed a bit cold, when she gently cupped it with her palm, warmth gradually spread.

Reibella immediately embraced the boy as if clinging to him.

“Hic……”

And she burst into tears, pouring out her sorrow. 

 * * *

 Sniff, after wiping her nose, Reibella slightly raised her head to look at the boy before her.

‘Calyx Benya Trishein.’

That’s how he had introduced himself.

To think she would hear that name she so wanted to hear like this.

“……Thank you.”

Reibella expressed her gratitude in a voice hoarse from crying. Calyx, who had been quietly staring at her, slowly blinked as if it was nothing.

Then he stared at her again as if he had something to say.

To think this child, no, Calyx would have something to say to her. It was truly unbelievable. Was the person before her really the one she knew?

“But how did you come here?”

He had been under constant surveillance by the Emperor. In a position where he could die at any moment if the Emperor wished it, there was no way he could come out like this.

And……

Reibella’s gaze turned behind Calyx. There stood a familiar-faced knight with distinctive hair.

“And why is the knight……”

“I am Ilius Eden, Miss Taste Tester.”

He politely reminded her of his name.

“I……”

He opened his mouth to say something,

But before he could speak, small hands covered her view. The hands belonged to Calyx.

“Because you didn’t come.”

It was the answer to how he had come here.

Because she hadn’t come, he came looking — at this answer that seemed so natural, Reibella’s heart grew warm once again.

Since House Felicity’s annihilation, ‘Reibella’ had been like an impurity in this world. She was merely allowed to live by the princess’s grace, an existence that hardly mattered.

But there was someone in this world who clearly recognized her existence and needed her. Somehow it felt like she had found the one and only signpost in this world. Just that fact alone brought the blurry world into focus, making it clearer than before.

However, separate from that, his answer wasn’t enough for how he had come all the way here.

“So how did you get here……”

Before she could ask again, Calyx suddenly poked near her chin. Whether there was a wound she didn’t know about, his touch made her involuntarily cry out “Ouch.” It throbbed.

At her pained sound, Calyx’s eyes grew fierce. They burned so intensely it seemed he would kill everyone who had caused her wounds right then and there.

It seemed to be his way of showing concern and worry. Like a cat that purrs then suddenly shows its claws, it made Reibella laugh.

“Thank you.”

And peeking her head out past Calyx’s shoulder, she also greeted Eden.

“Thank you, Sir Knight.”

“Not at all. Rather, I……”

“Reibella.”

……Huh?

Did Calyx just call her name?

When Reibella looked at him with wide eyes, Calyx answered with a languid expression as if nothing was wrong.

“Just because.”

Once might have been a coincidence. But she couldn’t help but notice him interrupting her conversation with Eden twice.

‘He’s afraid of losing his friend!’

Giggling, Reibella brought her hand to Calyx’s cheek.

“Don’t worry. Your Grace the Grand Duke is my only friend.”

“……Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call you what?”

“I told you my name. Be comfortable.”

“I can be comfortable?”

Was telling his name to her like unlocking the lock to his heart?

Though it was just sharing a name, he was acting like a tamed cat and it was very cute. When Reibella gazed at him intently, he averted his eyes as if slightly embarrassed.

That reaction made her chuckle.

“Alright, I mean okay, Calyx.”

“Mm.”

His brightly smiling appearance was so unlike him. But she still had to say what needed to be said.

“Why are you here right now.”

And with the Emperor’s knight in tow, no less.

When Reibella pressed him again, Calyx once more closed his mouth. As if he had no intention of speaking. Then Eden cut in.

“I’ll look around the area for a moment. Though we’ve moved away from the village, there might still be dangerous people.”

Though he said he would scout the area, it seemed he was tactfully excusing himself since they couldn’t talk because of him.

Reibella gave a slight bow to Eden in gratitude.

After he had moved away, Reibella stared at Calyx again. The boy, confirming Eden had disappeared, spoke as if he had been waiting.

“I told the Emperor I would go to the border.”

“You saw the note I left?”

Calyx slowly nodded. Seeing him nod so calmly with a composed face made Reibella feel sorry toward him.

He had said he would protect her, be her guardian angel. Yet what she suggested as a way to survive was going to a battlefield where people died every day.

“I’m sorry.”

“It would have happened anyway.”

“But……”

“The Emperor intended to kill me from the start. I just suggested the method. And the Emperor gladly accepted it.”

“……”

“More than that, Reibella. I want to know why you said that was my way to survive.”

Of course he would be curious. Why he suddenly had to go to war, he would want to know.

Reibella answered.

“It’s because Duke Vicheravali is also planning to join that war.”

At the mention of Vicheravali, Calyx’s expression grew quite serious.

“Though he’s refusing to deploy now, he will join eventually. And once he participates, Duke Vicheravali will definitely lead that war to victory. The Duke has a way to turn that war in his favor.”

In the novel, Duke Vicheravali fought a truly difficult war. As soon as war broke out, many allies died from the enemy’s fierce resistance, and support not arriving on time doubled the sacrifices.

But in the end, Vicheravali extracted surrender from the enemy leader and used them to even commit treason. Though that end turned to failure.

In this world where everything went according to the princess’s will, that battlefield was the only zone that could escape the Emperor and princess’s control. That was her judgment.

If Calyx could just survive that war, and further build up military achievements and his own forces, she hoped even the Emperor wouldn’t be able to touch him as he pleased.

“I want you to cooperate with Duke Vicheravali. Especially since you’re from House Trishein.”

“You know about Trishein?”

“I heard from Dad. That there were people higher than dukes. He told me not to be arrogant. That’s when I saw Trishein in the abolished noble genealogy.”

However, since they were said to have been annihilated around when she was born, she hadn’t paid much attention.

“I heard Trishein was the family that ruled the northern lands.”

He nodded with an indifferent expression. For someone asking if she knew his family, his reaction was dry. But as he seemed curious about the conversation itself, his upper body subtly drew closer.

So Reibella lowered her voice and spoke as if whispering.

“There’s a metal buried in the north that Duke Vicheravali has been searching for a long time.”

“……Metal?”

“Adamantium.”

Adamantium, a metal said to be absolutely indestructible.

This was something the princess would discover 10 years later when Part 2 began. But Reibella decided to willingly use that idea for Calyx. Since the princess also achieved her reversal with ideas stolen from someone else, she didn’t want to feel guilty about this much.

“Win Duke Vicheravali’s favor with that. Vicheravali will save you.”

She wanted to tell him not to get involved in the treason, but decided to hold back since it was too dangerous to mention more now.

It wasn’t time yet.

“I’m glad you can use a sword.”

Even going in expecting victory, the battlefield was a dangerous place. It would be difficult for a young boy to survive. It was truly fortunate that he at least had the power to protect himself.

Calyx silently listened to Reibella’s words. Though he seemed to understand why he had to go to war, his eyes held something like resignation.

She wasn’t unaware of his inner thoughts.

He probably thought that no matter how desperately he struggled to live, he would end up dying by the Emperor’s hand.

It was the result of long oppression. Feeling upset, Reibella looked around as she continued speaking.